


just say when

by hawktasha



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambassador Katara (Avatar), Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon compliant-ish, Drunk Sex, Drunk confessions, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, I know, I'm fucking late, Mild Language, Not really explicit but better safe than sorry, Oblivious Zuko (Avatar), Pining Katara, Post-Canon Fix-It, Sokka and Suki's wedding, Sorry Cata you know I love you, Zutara Holiday Exchange 2020, drunk games, fluff-ish, kindish, no beta we die like jet, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 13:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30072726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawktasha/pseuds/hawktasha
Summary: Katara wakes up with the worst hangover of her life, with the bestfriend she has been harboring feelings in secret for the last few years laying next to her, no clothes at all on either of their bodies.Oh, and she had no idea how they ended up in that predicament.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), background Sokka/Suki
Kudos: 72





	just say when

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beluly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beluly/gifts).



> So basically I have to say that I don't plan to write smut (I never do, and I don't plan to change it for the time being) but it would get a little +18 at some point in the fic. It's not something quite explicit, but I rather be safe than sorry and advise you about it before you start reading.
> 
> Also in a different note (but kindly related), this is 6 years after the end of the war, so basically Katara is 21 years old and Zuko is 23.
> 
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> This is part of a Zutara Holiday Exchange (super and hyper delayed, sorry Cata), and the promts I chose for this one were: fake dating + wedding.
> 
> It is and it is not at the same time both and neither of the promts. I quite don't know anymore what this monster is, it just planted itself in my head and kept growing and growing throuhgt the months.
> 
> Love you Cata, and hope you like it! <3 (Also, happy Easter somehow¿? so hey! It is still another holiday)

_I’ve been dreaming about your kisses_

_and I can’t seem to have enough;_

_no, it’s not enough_

* * *

All she felt at first was the pain; her head was throbbing like her brain was debating between melting itself or bursting out of her skull and leaving her for good, not sure what it wanted to do. After the first wave of conscience left her and the second hit her, the second thing she felt was the light, and how it seemed to be trying to blind her eyes when she opened them. Now more alert she could understand all these symptoms when the dizziness enveloped her and a new wave — _nauseas, really?_ — hit her in full force. 

_Oh,_ she knew what was happening. _The greatest hangover of her life_. 

With a grunt, she left herself drop back into the mattress, trying with all her might to go back to sleep or at least lay there as long as she could with her head half buried in a pillow to try and combat the sun rays that seemed to be really into torturing her. 

She was so entranced embracing the sweet arms and tranquility of her beloved slumber she dismissed anything else she was feeling. Like how her bed seemed to be warmer than usual, or how she was curled only in one side of the bed instead of her usual position taking the whole thing for herself. That is, until something strong wrapped against her waist and pressed her body into the unknown warmth. No, not something; _someone_.

With a halt, every residual tiredness she may felt was forgotten. 

She was completely sure she went to bed alone, _didn’t she?_ But the body —definitely a male body if the muscles pressed against her back were any indicative— seemed to tell her otherwise. 

_Okay_ , she thought, _breathe Katara._

And breathe she did. And then she remembered she didn’t recall going to bed at all. She tried to conjure any memory through her headache but found it incredibly hard to concentrate when the unknown man behind her shifted and brought her impossibly closer to him. If there were any doubt in Katara’s mind of the sex of the stranger they dissipated the moment she felt her backside press against something hard.

 _Fuck_. She tried to giggle out of his grasp or at least get some air in between them at least until she could remember who he was but it only seemed to make the situation worse. Then a sigh against her nape from said stranger sent a shiver through Katara’s spine. 

_Get a hold, you woman_. 

She bitted her lower lip to suppress a frustration growl and buried her face more into the —very puffy and comfortable— pillows. Pillows that smelled awfully familiar.

_Okay, that’s just weird._

But just as she sniffed again the soft fabric, a flash of where the smell came from —or better said, _who_ — came to her mind. 

She twisted in the stranger's hold so she could face him, carefully not to wake him, her heart in her throat and her eyes closed.

She was sure she was making a mistake, she wasn’t thinking straight, she was biased. 

Slowly — _painfully slowly_ — her eyelids opened and took on the body beside her.

_Broad muscles, alabaster skin, strong torso_. —her heart increased its beating as her eyes roamed his features and kept lifting.

 _Sharp jaw, thin nose, raven hair._ —and then, her heart stopped when she saw _it_ , her suspicions confirmed.— _Burn scar._

She pinched herself but the boy in front of her remained there. It wasn’t a dream. 

Her heart beat in full force trying to carve its way out of her chest at the sight, at the conclusion.

She was in bed with her best friend _Zuko_ , her beloved friend the _Fire Lord_ ; who she was stupidly and terrifyingly in love with.

She was very naked, cuddling against an also very naked _firebender_ , with a full blackout hangover. 

Her mind was fluzzy and her stomach began to shake as it was fill with sparrowkeets and she wanted to laugh and cry of happiness but then, _oh then_ she recalled she didn’t quite remember how she ended —how _they_ ended— in that current predicament in the first place and now she wanted to cry for too many different reasons altogether. 

The irony wasn’t amiss for her either. 

There she was, in the bed with the man she irrevocably —but secretly— gave her heart to, as she had dreamt too many times during the years. But just as _nightmares_ are also _dreams_ , she knew for her lack of memory and the pounding in her head that whatever brought them to bed wasn’t at all what she wanted, and she swore she could hear her heart crack inside her ribcage. 

She would remember, _wouldn’t she_ , if the night before was more than a drunk fling?

She really wants to hold to her hopes and think there’s something more, something she’s missing behind the fuzziness that may leave her heart in one piece and erase the bittersweet taste that has started to take hold of her tongue.

So she closes her eyes, still unmoving against the firebender’s chest, and tries to recall the events of the day before, the events that lead her there.

  
  


* * *

That was it. Her brother’s wedding.

It was a happy day for everyone, really, the couple and friends alike. 

Then came the reception, and Katara had a good time. She started in a good place, she really did. But then half of her tribe started asking questions about why did she break up with Aang —nevermind they broke up four years ago, practically five, and that they had been together for less than a year—, and so they did a bunch of Earth Kingdom citizens she had met during her travellings (both from her time with Aang and her time as an ambassador); and she just wanted to either crawl into a cave and never come out or drag them all into the sea. 

She was _exhausted_.

She didn’t need a man; she was a freaking war hero, the last waterbender of the South, Fire Nation ambassador. 

She didn’t want it. Or maybe she _did_ want it, one man  specifically , but she was old enough now to not entertain in daydreams.

And it wasn’t like she had been a prude and all alone those last years either.

It just wasn’t their damn business.

She was currently hiding from the heart of the party, and found a practical spot behind a pillar that was real close to the open bar. Mushing over their words and inwardly cursing all of them, she didn’t realize someone got near her hideout until it was too late, until his breath hit the back of her neck and she had to suppress a shiver when his scent filled her nostrils.

After all those years, it had to be him the one who found her. It was _always_ him. And some part of her —the hopeful, childish part of her— would never have it any other way.

Still, she wasn’t in her best mood; and trying to fight and swallow her feelings for him alongside the feelings of frustration and rage she had towards half of the guests of the wedding wasn’t something she thought she could manage at the moment.

  
  


* * *

She couldn’t help but smile, a tiny and half sad smile, at the memory; even given her current situation.

Because of course he would be the one to reach her when she was at her lowest, because of course he would be the one to support her and help her enjoy her time once again.

Against all odds, she remembered quite vividly what happened next. Or at least, as vividly as you could with a major headache and her pulse thrumming in her ears.

  
  


* * *

  
  


It had started as a joke, but soon enough it became a stupid idea. One Katara wasn’t sure she regretted or was thankful for having.

Of course, when she had mentioned to the older man that they’d pretend to be dating just so those strangers would leave her breathing alone she had expected him to say no. She had expected for him to laugh alongside her at her idea. 

She had never expected for him to take the task as serious as he did.

She should have expected the electricity that course through her veins everytime he so much as touched her skin, though.

And even if she knew deep down that she was playing with fire —quite literally, as Sokka would say—, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Not when he looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the world, not when his arm around her waist anchored her to the earth in a way nothing else did. Not when her name on his lips made her legs tremble and her heart flutter.

_If only all of it could be real_ , she thought. 

  
  
* * *

Okay.

So that explained why her feelings seemed to be all over the place.

Well, _that_ and the fact that his arm was still curled around her waist and that _if_ she listened quietly enough she was sure she could hear the insistent beating of his heart nearly pressed against her own chest. 

More images from the night before kept floating behind her eyelids, some innocent enough to paint a half smile in her face, some sugerent enough so her mind could easily pretend they were real, that it was her life and they were really together, not just playing some kind of game or twisted scheme.

One scene in particular, caused the waterbender to frown, a bittersweet feeling fluttering in her chest.

  
  


* * *

“ _I just don’t get it_ ”

“ _I told you Zuko, there’s nothing to get. It is what it is._ ”

“ _But you shouldn’t need a man to be happy! Your life matters more than just who you are with!_ ”

“ _Don’t you think I don’t know that?_ ” She couldn’t help but hiss, the joy of the last couple of hours momentarily forgotten “ _Don’t you think I’m tired of being asked when I’m going to find myself a husband, or when I’m going to start having children? Like I’m only worth being a womb, a caretaker? Like anything and everything I had ever done doesn’t matter the slighstless as long as I stayed unmarried?_ ” She forced herself to reign her temper, to keep the tears at bay; but she could feel the telltale burning of her eyes, the premonition of the pools of wetness that were forming in her eyes.

“ _Katar--_ ”

He tried to step in, to stop her rambling, but she wasn’t finished. She had been bottling up all those words, those feelings, since she broke up with Aang. To hell with that, she had been bottling all that since she was known only as the Avatar’s girlfriend first, master waterbender second. “ _Don’t you think I’m tired? Tired of-- of this fucking missoginistic world that only values woman if they can fuck them? And even then, they’d find something they dislike, something to frown up to? I’ve fought the war, Zuko! I’ve been working my ass off all these years to try and fix the world, make it a little better. May-- maybe I’m not the fucking Fire Lord, or the world latest hope or a world leader, but I can heal! And I can try and won’t stop fighting for making the world a better place! Why is it not enough? Why is it_ _never_ _enough?_ ” She barely whispered the last part, having lost her fuel with each sentence she practically screamed at the boy.

She was shaking, she knew it; and she should probably try to calm herself, stop before she caused a scene in his brother’s reception, but she was so-so-so tired. 

She was looking at the floor, unable to look at the face of disdain she was sure would find in anyone’s face that were closed enough to hear her outburst, the look of disdain or pity she knew she would find if she dared to look at the firebender. 

That's why, when he chose to curl his arms around her body and pressed her tight against his chest, she found herself partially frozen before she repeated the gesture herself, wounding her arms around the man’s waist and squeezing hard.

“ _Katara_ .” He rasped near her ear, holding her even tighter against him. “ _Never, ever, in your life think you aren’t enough.”_ And the waterbender knew that under other circumstances, she would have just broken down in tears once again, holding him like a lifeline. But the feeling of his arms around herself, and the way her voice sounded so soft and so reassuring and so _near_ made her heart beat twice its speed, the fluttering feeling of her stomach increasing its intensity.

The combination of emotions was overwhelming, nonetheless.

“ _I am, for once, completely sure of what I’m about to say._ ” He added after a couple seconds, placing his hands on each of her shoulders and looking down at her. “ _You are the most incredible woman that has ever walked this earth. People adore you. And not only the common folks! Katara, my own council likes you better than me most of the time. I am completely sure too that, had you been born in the Fire Nation they’d try to stage a coup so they could put you on the throne instead of me._ ” 

And she was having a hard time processing his words, to accept them; but one look into his eyes told her he wasn’t lying. He wasn’t even exaggerating. His gaze hold her with a tenderness she had never seen before in the firebender’s eyes, not since he woke up after Azula’s fight.

So when she asked next, with a little voice “ _Really_ ” she didn’t even know what she was asking.

“ _Really_ .” he chuckled, his warm breath ruffling her hair and face. “ _Agni, Katara. They would sell their houses just so I’d ask you to marry me._ ”

And that, _fuck_ , that left her —almost— speechless. 

“ _You-- You’re joking_.” 

“ _I am not_.” He smirked, and Katara felt boneless once again.

“ _You never said anything_.” She said, barely a whisper. 

He shrugged, like they were debating the weather, like if Katara’s chest wasn’t about to explode because of his words, because of its implication. 

If Toph were somewhere close, Katara knew the earthbender would be having a field trip with how her heart was reacting to their friend’s presence.

“ _It wouldn’t matter_.”

“ _They want you to marry me?_ ” She muttered, not quite believing her own voice.

“ _Not you in particular._ ” He hummed. “ _You’re just their favorite candidate._ ”

“ _They’re pestering you too to get married?_ ”

This time he laughed out loud, the sound reverberating against her chest where they were still pressed. “ _You have no idea_.”

“ _Zuko, you never said anything!_ _I could--_ ”

“ _See what I just said?_ ” He arched a bow, taking a step back and crossing his arms over his chest. “ _This is not your problem to bear_.”

“ _Still, you could at least tell me! I could have help or--_ ”

“ _Or what, Katara? Marry me, so they stop throwing their daughters and nieces at me!?_ ”

“ _Would it be that bad!?_ ” She couldn’t help but raise her voice a little, frustrated at his reaction, at how surreal it seemed for him when it was all and everything she wanted.

“ _Of course not! It’s not that!_ ”

“ _Then what is it?_ ”

“ _I wouldn’t do that to you! I wouldn’t dare to tie you up in a place. . ., worst of it, in a place that had brought you that much suffering in the past. You deserve the world, Katara. And to be free, to be who you really want or no one at all._ ”

She was sure her lungs had stopped working just by how breathless she felt when she asked her next question. “ _Why didn’t you tell me? A-- About what they thought of me?_ ”

“ _Because I know you. Because I know that somehow, you would have taken it upon yourself and burden yourself with another problem that didn’t belong to you_.” 

He uncrossed his arms and adopted a lopsided smile, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “ _Besides. . ., you could never belong with someone like me._ ”

Oh, but how _wrong_ he really was.

They were close, so _close_ , and yet they felt so far apart.

* * *

The waterbender let out a long sigh.

It was just bantering. Joking. Fooling around.

And yet — _oh yet_ —, how did she long for it to be at least a little real.

How did she wish for all of it to be real, for him to consider her as something more than a friend.

And wishing she did, because when she remembered the way he looked at her when he said she couldn’t belong to him she could swear she saw a lingering sadness behind his eyes, like it was something he too wanted.

She didn’t know if she was being stupidly hopeful or just plainly stupid.

She forced herself to leave the bittersweet taste of her tongue to roll again, blinking against the light of the room and watching the peaceful expression the firebender had in his face. 

Whatever would come next, whatever her memory conjured, she knew it would be closer to the moment that led them to this very same bed; and she was both excited and terrified to know how did all that happened.

  
  


* * *

This time, they were in her quarters; laughing loudly at something she couldn’t quite recall. A couple of fire whiskey bottles layed near them, and another one slightly emptier than the rest was in between their bodies. Both of them dismissed the chairs of the small hall and opting for sitting on the carpet instead.

* * *

That explains the hangover.

And why they seemed to be on her bed instead of his.

So it meant she was nearly there, closed to uncover the truth.

She didn’t know how to feel at all.

* * *

“ _Your turn_.” Katara said passing the half emptied bottle to her companion after taking a long swing.

“ _Okay, truth_.” 

“ _C’mon, you’ve been choosing truth three rounds already!?_ ”

“ _So what?_ ”  
“ _It’s not funny, Zuko!_ ”

“ _It is what it is_ .” he answered with a smirk and a gulp from the brownish liquid. “ _Are you gonna ask something or what?_ ”

She didn’t know what prompted her to do it. If it was his smirk or the way he kept dodging her dares and played safe. Maybe it was the way she wanted him to choose dare, to see him without inhibitions, to see how far he would go just for her.

  
  


Deciding to make him sweat a little, she decided to finally speak.

“ _Would you kiss me?_ ” It wouldn’t hurt to know the answer for herself either.

He seemed to really think the answer, or the implications of the question, or anything really; his gaze fixed on Katara’s face then dropping to the bottle in his hands. She was almost feeling disappointed for his reaction, dropping her gaze to her lap herself when a certain “ _Yes_ ” left his lips.

“ _What?_ ” she asked, afraid she was listening wrong.

“ _I said yes_.” And the look on his face left no place for doubts about his statement.

“ _You’re not… joking?_ ”

“ _Just say when_.” He said with a smirk, his lone eyebrow arched. There was a teasing tone there, but there was something else entirely in his eyes. 

Katara has learnt to read his hidden truths long ago, or so she thought. Maybe she was just projecting her own thoughts onto him, maybe it was only that he was inebriated. 

But those little words had already made something snapped inside of her. Everything she had been bottling up the last years. Every shock and shiver his touch produced on her at the reception just mere hours ago. Suddenly she was sick of playing safe, of waiting. She decided it was time to take the jump.

“ _Now_.” she said in her best effort of seducing voice, but in the end she knew she sounded small and even almost pleading, afraid of what he’d do or what would happen next.

The effect was immediate. Just… not the one she expected —or wanted—.

As soon as the word left her lips, Zuko almost choked on his drink, starting to cough when the liquor entered the wrong pipe. The situation would be comical from where she stood, with his eyes as wide as they could open and his whole body shaking while fighting to not suffocate on whiskey. It would be comical if the reaction didn’t scream ‘ _rejection_ ’ in all its might. She felt stupid.

Defeteadly, she waited a couple of seconds for him to calm, every muscle tense on her body.

“ _What!?_ ” he finally croaked, and just as his former reaction, that question only added fuel on the inferno of embarrassment and heartbreak she was already feeling.

She shaked her head and tried to counterback that she was only joking, but found out that she couldn’t look at his face, not in that moment. With shaky legs, she stood up faster than she thought it could be possible without tripping in her current state of intoxication.

“ _Just forget it_ .” she said, turning to leave even though that was _her_ room. It didn’t matter, she could find somewhere else to be swallowed in shame. 

“ _Katara_.” 

“ _Just do it!_ ” she was already moving to flight when his hand wrapped around her wrist and stopped her in place. With a tug he got her facing him again.

“ _What did you say, Katara?_ ” he asked, his voice incredibly soft. 

But she wasn’t going to let her brain fool her again into thinking this was a good idea, that he may feel the same. No, that boat had already sailed and it was too long gone even for a waterbender to board on it.

“ _Nothing_.” she said with her gaze fixed on the bedroom’s carpet.

He wasn’t having any of that. 

Gently placing his free hand under her chin, he lifted her eyes to his, holding her head in place.

“ _Katara, what did you say?_ ” he repeated.

“ _I say nothing, Zuko_.” her voice was barely a murmur, shakier than she ever remembered. She tried to free herself from his grasp but couldn’t, so instead she settled to close her eyes.

After a few minutes in that position, she thought he might let her go and just forget what had happened, what almost happened. But then she heard him speak again, so low she maybe wouldn’t have been able to catch it if they weren’t so close together.

“ _Please_.” he pleaded for her to speak.

That got her to open her eyes, and what she saw there made her doubt her sanity once again.

His eyes had the same light they had when she gathered the courage to ask that silly question, but there was a glint of something else too. Something she might find unknown if she hadn’t seen it directed at her, yet when he had to let go his quest to capture Aang; _determination_.

That awoke her curiosity, and that trait had always been her perdition.

She internally prayed to every spirit and god she knew to help her if she was making a mistake, make him forget about this whole night and continue their friendship like she hadn’t said a damn thing.

“ _I. . ._ ” she could hear her pulse in her ears, feel the room girate around her —if it was from her nerves or the fire whiskey, she didn’t know— “ _Now_.” 

“ _Now_ :” he deadpanned.

She nodded, then closed her eyes again. She couldn’t watch his reaction for her next words, couldn’t meet his eyes if she wanted the courage to continue. “ _I— I love you, Zuko. I’ve been in love with you for a long time._ ”

She was dropping a bomb on him, she knew; she was dropping a bomb in every barrier she had constructed around herself and her heart during the last couple of years. On one side, for one second she felt invincible, able to freely breath at last after carrying that burden for so long. But it was the other side that paralyzed her, what she was dreading. The hit wouldn’t just crash her barriers and she knew it; it would also collapse the fragile line she tiptoed around him, it would also send the pure trust and easy friendship and camaraderie they had down to ashes, it would burn everythi--

“ _Fuck._ ”

But the world was already _burning_ , and this time she was the one to _ignite_ it.

Her throat made an estranged sound, from a shattered laugh or a sob she didn’t quite know. She could hear her heart falling to pieces in her chest. He finally released her wrist, and she took it as her queue to leave, find somewhere to hide and cry her eyes out.

But just as she was about to take a step back, she felt his hand curled around her jaw and her eyes flew open in time to see his mouth crash against hers.

* * *

“ _Tui and La what have I done?_ ” she couldn’t help but ask out loud, cringing at the state of her voice and holding her breath while hoping against hope it hadn't disturbed the firebender’s sleep. But even as she felt she could breathe again when he didn’t stir, she couldn’t help but feel suffocated. By her memory. By her words.

  
She had asked him to _kiss her_.

She had actually said it _twice_.

And then she had said she _loved_ him. 

She didn’t know if she wanted to cry or laugh at her boldness. At the situation she had created the night prior, the one that led her to this moment, to this present. To the man she loved, the boy who took lighting straight through his chest just for saving her, curled around her body like he belonged there. Like this could be real, like he was hers in the same way she was his. 

She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself, tried to bring herself to continue remembering; even if she knew it would break her in the end. She needed to know, she needed her _answer_.

  
  


* * *

His lips were on her, or maybe hers was on his.

It was difficult to know between the tangle they had become, to know where one ended and the other began. 

They were a storm, the raging sea, a fight of fire and ice that fought with nails and teeth and didn’t let them breathe. 

Her back hit the wall with a thud, and before she could do anything but wound her arms around his neck once again, she found herself weightless. He had curled her legs around her waist and was supporting her with her hands below her thighs; not wasting a second to plaster his mouth against her neck and starting to bite and lick and kiss at any bit of skin he could reach. 

Suddenly, the night breeze wasn’t cold enough and everything was on fire and Katara just needed to feel it again, feel his breath against her naked skin. Consequences be damned.

She didn’t recall who started to tear each other’s clothes first. Maybe they were even, both of them so eager it was a miracle they managed to take off their clothes without ripping them apart. Her wrappings didn’t have that luck though.

As soon as they were both in their underwear, Zuko walked them both to her bed, not stopping nipping her neck and collarbone for even a second, his hands firmly pressed against her backside. The next second, the mattress dipped with their combined weights and Zuko was above her, his lips and hands everywhere. She could barely contain a gasp when his teeth grazed her collarbone, his tongue soothing the pain greedly seconds after.

She grazed her hands through his locks, treading her fingers in it and pulling slightly; earning a groan from the firebender. She used his momentary distraction to tug not so gently, forcing his head back so she could press her lips again against his, slightly biting his lower lip and caressing it with her tongue to sooth the pain as he did moments before. 

This time he groaned even louder, but before Katara could continue pushing his buttons, exploring his mouth with her tongue and mapping his toned muscles with the palm of her hands; he broke the kiss, earning a not so flattering whine from her lips.

But before she could utter her complaints, before she could bring him back to her, he began to crawl done her body, slowly making his way down. 

Anything she could have said was completely forgotten when his wet tongue grazed her nipple, her upper wrappings long gone without her even realising. Not that she complained, although she was curious how he had managed to undress her at that speed, when none of her past lovers ever did.

Her doubts cleared when moments later he made his way to her lower wrappings, his head between her thighs and his lips pressed near her core, so close but not enough she couldn’t barely breathe in anticipation.

She was partially aware of a little hiss sounding in the room, an extra warmth near her navel and hips before the cold breeze of the Earth Kingdom night grazed her skin. He had burned them. Both her upper and lower wrappings. Without the flames licking her skin.

Even unleashed, even when his emotions were at his highest, his control prevailed. 

Katara didn’t quite understand why _that_ in particular turned her so damn much.

Not a second after the last piece of clothing left her body, his lips were against her and this time she couldn’t suppress her cries.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Something distracted Katara from her memory _—_ or was it a _daydream?—_ and she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to feel grateful for it due to the turn the events had been taking in her mind.

She could feel her face heaten, her whole body even, while she tried to pinpoint exactly what had distracted her. She didn’t have to look much. She just had to raise her gaze to see the blinking amberine irises staring at her to know she was utterly _fucked_.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but the lazy smile that adorned his face while he rasped in his sleepy voice a “ _G’morning, ‘Tara._ ”, followed by the tightening of his hold at her waist and him burying his face in the crown of her head wasn’t it. 

This time, she couldn’t control the burning in her eyes or the actual tears that started to fall from her eyes. The heartbreak she was experiencing so utterly painful she didn’t understand how she was being able to breathe at all.

She tried to stop, she really did.

Spirits, the last thing she needed at the moment was making a scene, digging her grave even deeper if it was possible at all. 

But each time she tried to stop, to even her breaths, a choked sob would follow her tries; and by the third failed attempt she knew he had noticed.

“ _Katara?_ ” He asked, loosening her hold and separating his chest from hers, his voice so full of concern another shaking sob broke through her.

This time, he completely separated himself from her and she couldn’t help but miss his warmth, even if the shards of her broken heart cut her insides deeper the closer he was. 

“ _Katara, what’s wrong?_ ” He sounded completely terrified, and it wasn’t fair that she was the reason for it, that her outburst was causing him distress. But she couldn’t help it. 

“ _Katara, please talk to me_.” He spoke again, his hand resting on her cheek and trying to wipe the tears that fall from her lashes.

She needed to get a hold of herself, she needed to at least speak to him.

Even if it didn’t mean anything to him, even if whatever he could say would hurt like a demon. She had to do it. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t back down from a fight.

“ _I--_ ” She breathed deep, in and out, and compelled herself to open her eyes. She almost lost her nerve when she saw him looking at him, his expression so open. So caring. 

With another inhale, she shook her head minutely and moved a little back, putting some space between the both of them. Even when she knew no matter where in that room she was, she would have felt like the walls were crushing her, like the warmth from his body would ignite her from inside.

“ _What have we done, Zuko?_ ” She breathed out, blinkin to fight the new wave of tears that threaten to spill from her eyes.

He tilted his head to the side, his eyes raking slightly over her figure making her cheeks feel on fire back again. 

“ _I’m afraid you’d have to be more specific, Katara._ ” He frowned, probably sensing her distress wasn’t directly related at their nakedness, or not entirely to it.

“ _Why-- Why did you kiss me Zuko?_ ”

“ _You asked me to, ‘Tara_.” He smirked, and this time she did slapped him on the arm, her temper flaring dangerously.

“ _I’m serious, Zuko!_ ”

“ _Woah, Katara!_ ” He raised his left arm in the air in defeat, raking his hand through his hair and sighing. “ _Okay, Katara, spill it. What is it?_ ”

“ _I already told you!_ ”

“ _No, you didn’t! Is this because I kissed you? Because last night you didn’t seem to m--_ ”

“ _I just told you I loved you and you decided to kiss me and fuck me and you’d thought that I wouldn’t mind!?_ ” She shrieked, seeing red. 

Where was the boy that could talk about honor during hours straight, and what the hell had happened with the man she loved. Why did he acted so nonchalantly about her literally baring her heart to him, so nonchalantly about having taken said heart and used it and crashed it like it was no--

“ _You don’t remember?_ ” He asked, all façade forgotten, the smirk wiped out of his face. 

“ _I do remember._ ” She huffed. “ _I remember telling you I loved you, and then you kissing me, and-- well, and!_ ” She screamed, gesturing between him and herself, their bodies naked below the thin sheet.

“ _And me telling you I loved you back_.” He sadly remarked, a curl in his lips.

“ _You-- What?_ ”

“ _After. . ._ ” He continued, mimicking her gesture from before. “ _You asked me exactly this. ‘Why did I kiss you’. And I told you exactly that, ‘Tara. Because I love you, because I’ve been in love with you since as far I can remember. Before I took Azula’s lighting, probably; even if I didn’t realize myself until after. Because there hasn’t been a single day or time I’ve seen you at the palace that I just wanted to throw caution to the wind and grab you and hold you._ ” 

He looked so utterly confident, so utterly sincere, Katara wasn’t surprised to find out she had started to cry again. Nor did she were surprised when he reached for her again, capturing her tear in his thumb and wiping it away.

“ _Because every single day I wished for you to feel the same, and to finally hear it-- for it to be real. . . Katara, I couldn’t waste another second, not anymore._ ”

Despite the previous pain, Katara swore she could reach the clouds and feel them under her fingertips by how weightless she felt at the moment. She didn’t even try to suppress the giggle that escaped her lips, the combination of emotions that had spiralled through her body in those couple hours finally dissipating.

She drew near the boy once again, her hand finding the scar on his face like she did once years ago and a couple fleeting times after, her cheeks briefly hurting for how broad she was smiling.

“ _So what are you waiting for, then?_ ”

“ _What--_ ”

“ _Kiss me, Zuko_.” She nearly purred, and her heart did a backflip inside her ribcage when his smile rivalled the one she felt on her face.

“ _It’d be my pleasure_.” He didn’t waste a second more, as he promised. 

And if both of them were late that evening to say their goodbyes to the newly wed couple, it was no one’s business.

They would have a lot of things to discuss, they would have a lot of obstacles and ups and downs in the future; but right there and right now, they were Zuko and Katara, and that was all that mattered.

That, and the fact that they loved each other and wouldn't dare to waste their time once again.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and please leave your opinions and kudos if you'd like! <3
> 
> (Also, as I said in the beggining note this is my first "smut" writing, and even if it's barely smut, I would appreciate opinions on how it turned out.)


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